CHAPTER ONE: THE DAYS BEFORE EVERYTHING CHANGED: PART I
SIX YEARS PRIOR
It was sunset.
Located somewhere near the Mediterranean sea was the small yet active compound known as the Abysus facility where its scientists spent each passing day hastening to complete their grand experiment; and to do so in a humane manner before the deadline to renew their funding came.
Due to such a limitation, they often found themselves working late into the night prototyping new, human-free interfaces to interact with the nanotechnology still in its infancy. And despite how far they were from achieving results with their relatively improbable idea, they believed that the utility of nanites as a revolutionary cureall to the world's most dire ailments was a worthwhile cause.
Though most days, their efforts were fruitless and their workplace went mostly silent as each researcher pursued their own ideas and theories in isolation.
However, this was not one of those days.
The lights of Abysus turned on automatically as dusk began and darkness descended upon the land. At first there was a calm silence as per routine, but then sirens went off and panicked shouting accompanied flashing warning lights around every corner.
Not long after a group of scientists, one of whom delivered an urgent briefing over the phone, rushed a boy on a stretcher from the site of the incident to an already over-saturated emergency room in the medical wing; his breathing shallow and his pulse weakening by the second.
"He's still with us! Get the electrocardiogram running!" Commanded Doctor Gabriel Rylander immediately after placing the boy on the operating table and attempting CPR.
His assistants prepared and read a diagnosis rendered nearly incomprehensible over the pounding of their own heartbeats and the ensuing chaos of the facility, but some phrases were made out and action was subsequently taken by his personal team.
"It's a V-Fib! You know where the defibrillators are, get medication if initial shocks don't work!" One of the assistants commanded while a handful of other able-bodied scientists scampered about in a collaborative effort to save the young child's life.
While everyone was busy trying to remedy the situation, another pair of scientists with matching wedding rings rushed into the room. Rafael and Violeta were the names that read on the tags pinned to their lapels, though with their reputation most scientists at Abysus already knew of them — and if they didn't before that night, they certainly would after the events that were to unfold.
"Doctor Salazar!" clamored a nurse who made the call to summon the pair at Rylander's command. Having arrived as instructed, Rafael hung up while the nurse guided them to the operating table.
"Both of the Doctors, even. I'm sorry to say this but your son was caught up in an experiment. He had a steady pulse moments ago but he's since been diagnosed with ventricular fibrillation."
"And he still isn't up?" Concern and panic crept into Violeta's characteristically professional voice.
"Nothing's working! We've administered epinephrine and tried resuscitation between shocks but he isn't responding!" Rylander detailed, no longer delivering shocks and looking just as forlorn as Violeta who studied her son considered all possible options.
"Maybe this equipment is faulty, what if we directly struck his sternum?" She raised elbow ready to strike, but both her husband and the scientist held her back before she could bring it down.
"Violeta, none of us are trained to do a precordial thump, it won't do him any good!" Rylander argued, struggling to hold her back as she continued resisting against his restricting hold.
"I can't lose one of my boys, Gabriel. Especially not when he has so much life left!" She lashed out.
Tears slowly formed in her eyes, and in the many years Rafael knew his partner he had never witnessed her come close to the verge of tears save for instances involving any of their three — correction, two children they had. A PhD wasn't needed to understand how much she valued being a mother, so as far as he knew losing even one of her sons would have absolutely devastated her.
"He lost his pulse!" the assistant declared as the electrocardiogram connected to the child flatlined.
Violetta's breathing stopped and she felt all the support in her body becoming deadweight at that very moment. The only thing preventing her from collapsing to the ground and shattering completely was her husband, whose vice grip was desperately, skin-numbingly strong after Rylander backed away to give them space.
Violeta had dealt with enough loss in her life to sort past the motions and immediately process her grief with in an endless stream of bitter, sorrowful tears. Rafael, however, reacted differently and for a second—no larger a unit of time than that—experienced total thoughtlessness, vulnerability, and loss; utterly in denial to the mortality of his own progeny.
Death was a good acquaintance of his — a friend, even, considering how gracious the lady had been with him up to that point; as there were so many instances in his life where his existence should have been no more, and yet he miraculously continued to live on.
But not once in any of his close encounters with the fair mistress did he feel the emotions he did at that moment. Was that degree of emptiness, melancholy, and stillness what it felt like to be dead?
...Was that what his son was experiencing? Before having a chance to truly live at all?
The moment that thought came across his mind, a righteous fury consumed every fiber of his being and his eyebrows furrowed as deep as they could while his hands clenched into fists and a terrifying scowl formed on his reddened, tear stricken face.
[1] "No tenemos tiempo por esto!" He audibly growled before shoving all of the other scientists away and tossing all of the drug administration equipment off the surface. With all of the obstacles cleared from his area, he prepared his son's arm for an intravenous injection and pulled a single needle from a drawer beneath the table and flicked it to ensure that it was completely empty.
He looked at his wife with what could best be described as a neutral expression, his eyes still passionately ablaze but every other facial detail entirely stoic and mute.
[2] "¿Tienes los nanites en ti? Darle." he commanded with no sincerity or grace to his own spouse.
Violetta was caught off guard by Rafael's sudden action and urgent demand, but once she processed his words she could only muster the energy to look disappointed at her husband as she pulled out a small, dull canister which was swiped out of her hand and thoroughly studied by him.
[3] "Eres increíble Rafael..." She cynically whispered with slightly misty eyes. "How could you be thinking of our experiment while our boy is dead?"
Rafael ignored his wife while filling the syringe with the solution. As it began to glow blue, Violetta's face morphed from disappointment, to bewilderment, and then lastly desperation as she realized her husband's intention. He looked back up at her with an equal amount of despair in his eyes, and without realizing it she meekly shook her head to the side as they both looked back at their son.
"We haven't tested them on humans—"
[4] "¿Y qué tenemos perder, Violeta?" He interrupted. "Si queremos que Rex viva necesitamos que inyectarle los nanites. Es la única manera."
She looked down at their son, motionless and slowly draining of all of the color and vigor she so hopelessly fell in love with ever since he was brought into this world. So after a moment of careful deliberation, her eyes met with her husband's and she slowly nodded her approval.
"Do it." She choked while fighting back tears. "I'll send the nanites instructions to initiate, make sure to inject it at the correct angle!"
She bolted to the nearest computer terminal and began constructing a concise yet elaborate chunk of code for the nanites to finally activate. Rafael was prepared to make quick work of the injection, but as the needle met the surface of their child's skin, his hand began to tremble and his determination faltered as rapidly as it came.
Rylander offered to do it himself, but Rafael interrupted him with a raised, trembling hand. This was his profession and he was the best at it, his son deserved no less — nor could he afford it with the amount of time they had left before the brain began to deteriorate. With a pained face he looked up at a bright light above him, and for the first time in his entire life recited a small prayer.
[5] "Dios mio, lo siento si me he enojado con mi falta de fe. ¡Pero por favor! Desechar cualquier sentimiento que tengas de mi y salva a mi hijo, quien no ha hecho nada malo en su vida!" He repented with shaky breaths. "Por favor, take me instead. For I will gladly take his place!"
He closed his eyes, breathed in, and with a single, cool motion, he precisely aimed his hand to inject the nanites into his son right as Violetta finished the program on the bright terminal.
She pressed the return key, Rafael ceremoniously pulled out the syringe while she approached him, and then the pair held each other with the alarms having disengaged and all sound being absent.
"C'mon Rexy, you can do it. Stay with us." Rylander murmured after a few seconds passed.
More agonizing seconds passed. And then a minute. But if felt like an eternity to the scientists whose last ditch-effort felt more like a fleeting solution the longer it took for the boy to get up.
But then, right as it seemed all hope was lost and Rylander reached for a cloth to cover the cadaver, soft breathing was heard and the parents let out relieved tears of joy as they embraced their now living son. Rylander cheered, and the rest of the researchers stared in disbelief at the success of the operation, unsure how to process the breakthrough they all just witnessed.
However, the third scientist who escorted Rex to the medical ward immediately acted upon this newfound knowledge and exited the room to make a phone call in secrecy.
"Ms. Babbage? Wait, for God's sake I — listen, Jennifer! Eve! It's about the nanites. You need to let the Consortium know they work. Yeah, we have living, breathing proof of it."
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
This will be the last time I restart a big fanfic like this. My bad.
UPDATE [7/9/2019]:
Edits have been made to improve grammar, structure, and translations which can be read below.
TRANSLATIONS:
[1] We don't have time for this!
[2] Do you have the nanites on you? Give them to me.
[3] You are incredible, Rafael...
[4] And what do we have to lose, Violeta? If we want Rex to live we need to inject the nanites. It's the only way.
[5] Dear Lord, I apologize if I have upset you with my lack of faith. But please! Disregard whatever sentiments you have of me and save my son, who has done nothing wrong in his life! Please, take me instead. For I will gladly take his place!